WHEN Rachelle Strauss set herself the challenge of throwing out just one wheelie bin of rubbish over an entire year she knew that she had a tough task ahead.

Recycling Queen Rachelle Strauss explains why small steps are all it takes to make a big difference

The average household in the UK produces more than a tonne of waste every year and of this only 17 per cent is recycled.

Up until 2008 web designers Rachelle, 45, and her husband Richard, 61, thought nothing of chucking the things they didn’t need in the bin. But seeing a distressing photograph of a turtle eating a carrier bag made them vow to change their ways.

“We felt so guilty we said we would never use a plastic bag again,” says Rachelle. “We looked at the picture in the newspaper and realised it could have been one of our carrier bags that the turtle had got hold of.

“We knew our daughter Verona, who was six at the time, was relying on us to preserve the environment for her generation.”

The family stopped using carrier bags and started taking their own to the supermarket instead.

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The important thing is to work out what you’re prepared to compromise on

Rachelle Strauss

Then they decided there was more they could do to make their lifestyle eco-friendly so decided to take on a new challenge every month and chart their progress online. First they started recycling tins and glass at home then they travelled to a centre to recycle materials such as foil.

And they were amazed to find that their online journal became a huge success.

“When it started the blog was just a personal journal to see what worked and what didn’t but soon there were about 60,000 people visiting the website every month,” Rachelle says.

Spurred on by the success of her blog, in 2009 Rachelle vowed to throw away only one wheelie bin of rubbish for the whole year, which is just 100g of rubbish a week. Everything else would be reused, recycled or composted. “We wanted to see what we could achieve if we really tried. It was an enormous challenge and it was completely consuming.

“Before we even left the house each morning we had to think about how we were going to manage without making any waste.”

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Rachelle and her familiy managed to throw away just one wheelie bin of rubbish in a year

The family, from Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, started using their local butcher and baker instead of buying supermarket food so they could take produce home in reusable containers.

If they did shop in the supermarket they unwrapped food at the checkout and gave the packaging back to the supermarket to recycle.

“It caused a stir but people were interested in what we were doing. We were surprised to find that some shops gladly took the packaging back because they had facilities to recycle it, whereas we didn’t.”

Every week they weighed the rubbish in the bin to make sure they were on target and posted the weigh-ins online. At the end of the year the family had succeeded in filling just one wheelie bin.

The only things in it were broken plastic toys, disposable razor blades and broken ballpoint pens. Everything else had been recycled or turned into compost.

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The family stopped using carrier bags and started taking their own to the supermarket instead

“At first it was very time-consuming because everything we bought had to be looked at carefully to see if it was recyclable. But after about six months the effort started to pay dividends. We ended up saving a lot of money because we were more focused on buying what we needed.”

After completing their challenge the family went back to normal life but still try to reduce their waste as much as possible.

“The important thing is to work out what you’re prepared to compromise on,” Rachelle says.

Now they only fill one wheelie bin a month and are determined to carry on raising awareness of environmental issues.

“Being eco-friendly can be a lot of work but what motivates me is my daughter. She deserves a healthy, beautiful environment.”

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Choose one thing you often throw away and either recycle it or find a more eco-friendly alternative

Rachelle shares her top 10 tips on how to whittle down your waste:

1 RECYCLE ONE THING When it comes to recycling, it’s easy to have good intentions but then slip back into old habits of throwing things away. To get back on track choose one thing you often throw away, such as a tin of beans and either recycle it or find a more eco-friendly alternative.

2 SHOP SMART One common contributor to waste is buying the same food at the supermarket each week, only to discover many of the items are still sitting on the shelf in the fridge from last week. Reduce food waste and save money by taking a fresh look at your shopping list. If there’s an item you buy every week and often end up throwing away consider leaving it out in future.

3 GO LOCAL Recycling doesn’t have to be a chore. Most councils now offer a kerb-side collection for paper, tins and glass. Check what you can recycle in your area by calling your local council or entering your postcode at recyclenow.com

4 USE LEFTOVERS We often cook more food than we need but don’t use the leftovers. Instead of throwing leftover food in the bin, eat it for lunch the following day or turn it into a new dish by adding a few ingredients. Stews and curries can be bulked up by adding a tin of tomatoes or beans.

5 IGNORE ‘BEST BEFORE’ Many people think food which is past its best before date needs to be thrown away but in fact it just means the texture of the product changes after a certain date. However , this is different from use-by dates on fresh meat and fi sh, which can be dangerous to ignore.

6 USE SERVING DISHES Eating leftover food from somebody’s plate is never very appetising or hygienic so it’s often thrown away. A simple way to reduce the amount of waste is to serve food on the table in large dishes so everyone can help themselves. People will take as much as they can eat and the leftovers will be hygienically stored in the dish.

7 BAN PLASTIC BAGSIt has never been easier to say no to plastic bags thanks to the new law which means shops must charge at least 5p for them. Instead of paying for carrier bags with your weekly shop, take reusable bags with you.

8 SEND PACKAGING BACK Many companies now use recyclable packaging but some foods such as crisp packets are still hard to recycle. Send the packaging back to the company and ask them to consider using different materials which are easier to dispose of.

9 MAKE DO AND MEND Throw-away fashion is becoming more and more common but making simple repairs with a needle and thread can reduce waste and save money. Next time a button falls off a shirt, try sewing on another rather than buying a new item of clothing.

10 RETHINK WRAPPING Reusing wrapping paper is a brilliant way to be less wasteful. Next time someone in your family has a birthday save the wrapping paper to use again or use brown paper to wrap presents.